TT share amateur boxing honours with Guyana

In his last bout as an amateur, Trinidad and Tobago’s Kerston Manswell promised to give the people a show. But the Tobagonian’s sensational first round knock-out of Bermuda’s Freeman Smith in the 64th and final fight of the Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) Championships left the crowd calling for an encore. The tournament’s closing night was one of heartfelt goodbyes which, when the championships return in the Cayman Islands next year, will seem more like “see you laters”.

Manswell was the obvious favourite of the home crowd in the main event on the night against Smith and only a few punches were thrown before he stepped to his Bermudan opponent and wacked him upside the head and out of the ring to the delight of his fans. The hosts shared  “Overall Champion Team” award with Guyana after 18-18 draw. The TT team were also named the “Senior Champion Team” while Dominica were named the “Most Promising Team.” The youngest boxer was John Jackson of the US Virgin Islands, Guyana’s Melinda Daniel and Dennis Thomas were named the “Best Female Boxer” and “Best Cadet” respectively.

Jamaica’s Ricardo Smith was named “Best Junior” and Imancio Registe of Dominica received the “Best Novice” accolade. Though his country was not able to send a full team to the championships to defend their “Overall Champion Team” title Taureno Johnson won the “Best Overall” and “Best Senior” awards for his galant performances at the championships. Guyana, who have won the “Overall Champion Team” title 11 times —- 1987, ‘88, ‘89, ‘90, 92, ‘93, ‘94, ‘95, ‘96, 2000 and 2001—- will hold the trophy for the first six months of their joint reign with Trinidad and Tobago. First time winners will hold the trophy for the second half of the year. And one boxer who will be looking forward to the next edition of the regional competition is Aaron Hassette.

On Wednesday night, the third day of CABA 2004 Vicente Martinez predicted that Hassette was his pick of the bunch and at his current rate of progression would be TT’s most exciting prospect at the 2008 Olympic Games. Hassette went into the Junior Lightweight final, the night’s first encounter, against Hendricks Pilswick of Guyana but after some good exchanges the local titan got the judges’ cold shoulder and bowed out to the Guyanese. On the heels of this shocker, defending Junior Light Welterweight champ Kirt Blackwell set a good pace against Jamaica’s Ricardo Smith and this continued throughout the match-up eventually taking its toll on both well-matched boxers. As the fight wore on both boxers embraced showing signs of fatigue but neither conceded defeat leaving the decision in the hands of the officials who crowned Smith the new Junior Light Welterweight champion.

Guyana continued to strain to the “Overall Champion Team” honours and picked up another gold through Joel Mc Rea against Julius Jackson of the US Virgin Islands in the Junior Welterweight division. TT’s Sherwin Wilson flew past the referee, at the command to box, in his Junior Middleweight bout against Dominica’s Danny Joseph to begin his job, now more important than ever. During the first round Wilson looked aware of his strengths and capitalised on them with effective fury. His opponent had time was on his side but another of Wilson’s strengths—- stamina, would help him through the fight. In the second round Joseph had to be given a standing eight count but as soon as the referee could not protect him again Wilson was upon him and put him to his knees with a good knock-out combination.